Tag: Rock (81-90 of 407)

Dec 20 2012 06:30 PM ET

SiriusXM to air live New Year's Eve concerts nationwide: Willie Nelson, the Lumineers, and more

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The-Lumineers

How many different versions of “Auld Lang Syne” will you get to hear this New Year’s Eve? Thanks to SiriusXM, many!

The satellite radio service has announced that they’ll be airing live concerts from various artists and D.J.s on Dec. 31. Some of the bolder-faced names among the list are the likes of Willie Nelson (who’ll be playing in Austin), the Lumineers (Denver), Gregg Allman (New Orleans), Widespread Panic (Charlotte), the Avett Brothers (Greensboro, NC), Afrojack (New York) and more.

The shows will be broadcast across various SiriusXM networks for over 24 hours, as well as a new station called “New Year’s Nation.” The station goes live on Monday, Dec. 31 at 3:00 pm ET and will stay alive through Tuesday, Jan. 1 at 6:00 pm ET.

You can look below to see the full lineup so far, and be sure to check out the SiriusXM site for more information on station details and scheduling.

READ FULL STORY »

Dec 19 2012 04:20 PM ET

Best and Worst 2012: The six best metal albums of the year

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baroness-yellow-green

A peek at EW’s top 10 albums of the year highlights a vaguely disturbing trend: In 2012, most of the best music of the year was pretty mellow.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing; relatively low-key albums by the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean handily proved that un-blustery does not equal boring.

That being said, 2012 was a particularly remarkable year for metal. Perhaps because they currently have no place on the pop landscape at the moment, heavy musicians made a concerted effort to push personal boundaries on their new releases.

In some cases, that meant exploring the limit of how much noise the human ear can endure; for others it was a bold step toward something resembling pop music. It’s that second step that made it such a weird, wonderful year. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 19 2012 02:27 PM ET

Gene Ween tells magazine he's getting a sex change -- UPDATE

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Gene-Ween

Image Credit: Dave Etheridge-Barnes/Getty Images

Call her the Gene Genene?

In an unexpected bit of news today, Glide Magazine is reporting that Aaron Freeman, also know as Gene Ween of the long-running band Ween, is undergoing a sex change.

The story came about after Freeman posted a song called “Genene” (which you can listen to below) on his personal Soundcloud page. Freeman, who’d left Ween earlier this year and released a solo album titled Marvelous Clouds, told Glide that he was in Belgium for “a transformative procedure.”

Nonetheless, Freeman went on to discuss with Glide what was up with the the new track.

“This song is left to interpretation on purpose,” he said of “Genene,” which may or may not also be the new name Freeman is adopting. “To me, it’s just an honest song about where I’m at: creepy, real and pretty, just the way I like it.”

Freeman also added, “On one hand it’s about change and acceptance on a personal, spiritual level but can obviously be interpreted literally as a sex change.”

Update: Ween’s longtime manager Greg Frey, however, tells EW that Freeman’s was likely pulling Glide’s leg, and that he doubts that the sex-change story is true.

You can give the track a spin below:

READ FULL STORY »

Dec 19 2012 12:38 PM ET

EW's Holiday Playlist -- Christmas Cheers and Tears: Stream it here

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Cee-Lo

Image Credit: Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic

In this playlist, we skip the standards in favor of some lesser-known holiday gems — whether you’re bursting with yuletide joy or sobbing under the mistletoe.

Take a look at our picks below, and stick around to the end to listen to all these songs (except for the Dum Dum Girls song, which, sadly, wasn’t available) via Spotify stream.

CHRISTMAS CHEER

• STEVIE WONDER, “Christmastime” (1967) Forget the scent of pine or even the spirit of brotherhood: True seasonal bliss is Stevie’s harmonica-laden fireside swoon.

• WIZZARD, “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” (1973) Awesomely zonky glam rockers hang their glitter boots by the chimney with flair.

• JULIAN CASABLANCAS, “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” (2009) The Strokes frontman turns an SNL skit into a song-length sugar rush for all the cool kids whose stockings come stuffed with artisanal candy canes and Portlandia DVDs.

READ FULL STORY »

Dec 18 2012 03:49 PM ET

Stream the new Twenty One Pilots album 'Vessel' here -- EXCLUSIVE

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TWENTY-ONE-PILOTS

Now let’s take a break from tallying up our favorite albums of the past year and take a look at an album from next year.

The Columbus band Twenty One Pilots (stylized as twenty | one | pilots) has been on tour all summer with the Neon Trees, and soon they’ll be ready to release their debut album. Titled Vessel, the record will be out on Jan. 8 of next year on Fueled By Ramen, but you can stream the whole thing exclusively here.

The duo — Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun – have been gaining kudos for singles like “Holding on to You” and “Guns for Hands,” which mix zippy keyboards, melodic guitars, and rock-meets-rap vocal stylings. The album was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Greg Wells, who’s worked with everyone from Adele to Katy Perry.

Intrigued? Check out their upcoming Vessel with the exclusive full-album stream below:

READ FULL STORY »

Dec 13 2012 08:09 AM ET

Bruce Springsteen, the Who, Billy Joel, and Beatlevana: On the scene at 12-12-12

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12-12-12-concert

Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Wednesday night’s 12-12-12 benefit concert for Sandy relief was an unqualified success: Before even a single note was played on stage at New York’s Madison Square Garden, more than $30 million had already been raised for the Robin Hood Foundation through ticket sales, merchandise, and corporate pledges.

As a charity event, 12-12-12 was a slam dunk. As a musical entertainment endeavor, it was more of a mixed bag, full of plenty of glorious, triumphant moments for sure, but also bloated with curious choices and inexplicable performances.

Bruce Springsteen had the honor of kicking the show off, beginning his band’s brief set with “Land of Hope and Dreams.” As Jersey’s greatest ambassador for well over three decades, Springsteen sweated and howled through the opener’s anthemic refrain, only to raise the stakes on “Wrecking Ball,” a defiant anthem of hope from the album of the same name.

“Wrecking Ball” started a running theme of transformation through out the night: Familiar songs became re-packaged and recontextualized, and themes of renewal and rebirth crept up during the finest performances. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 11 2012 03:11 PM ET

Public Enemy, Rush, Heart, Donna Summer to be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Public-Enemy_510x317.jpg

Image Credit: Daniel Boczarski/Redferns via Getty Images

In a victory for those interested in the teachings of Malcolm X and Ayn Rand (or not!), the new crop of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees includes both hip-hop fire starters Public Enemy and Canadian prog merchants Rush.

The rest of this year’s newcomers include Heart, Donna Summer, Randy Newman, and Albert King, as well as Lou Adler and Quincy Jones in the nonperformers category. The induction ceremony will take place at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre on April 18, 2013, and will undoubtedly feature Flavor Flav embarrassing himself and an extremely long version of “Tom Sawyer.”

It’s hard to argue with any of those inductees, as they all had a great deal of influence over the course of long careers. However, it’s interesting to note the nominees who were left out in the cold: READ FULL STORY »

Dec 6 2012 01:22 PM ET

What songs did you listen to the most this year? EW's music staff weighs in

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head-phones

Image Credit: Mads Perch/Getty Images

Sometimes 2012 felt like a continuous loop of the same seven pop songs (or maybe just one, “Some Young Gangnam Diamond That Never Called Me Maybe on a Payphone (Like, Ever),” if you prefer a mashup.)

Some of those songs are truly great, and you’ll find more than a few of them on our official Year End Top 10 list in the upcoming Best and Worst issue of EW on stands Dec. 17.

But this is a separate list: One that our staff put together to celebrate the dozens of other artists — from Japandroids and Jessie Ware to Meek Mill and Avett Brothers (and yes, some Taylor and Ke$ha and Kanye, too)  — who stayed on repeat in our offices and on our iPods these past 12 months.

Read on, and listen to them all on the Spotify playlist we’ve provided while you do — it will be like you’ve been right here with us all year. Lucky!

READ FULL STORY »

Dec 6 2012 12:03 PM ET

Grammy snubs and surprises: Pink, Miguel, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Frank Ocean

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Frank-Ocean

Image Credit: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

Last night, in between LL Cool J and Taylor Swift beatboxing “Mean” and Maroon 5 performing that 311 song that was somehow number one for nine weeks, the nominees for the Grammy Awards (or at least, selected categories of them) were delivered live.

And like always, they they didn’t disappoint the armchair critics with their surprises and, in some eyes, oversights.

Unlike last year – a.k.a. Adele-apalooza: Beyond Thunderdome –  no one artist was dominant; the most nominations scored by any one artist was six, and six separate artists hit that number: Mumford & Sons, Fun., Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, and Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.

That’s a pretty eclectic list, but there’s more to dig into from the big list.

Surprise: Miguel
The critically lauded (and EW-beloved) R&B singer’s Prince-style opus Kaleidoscope Dream hasn’t made a huge impact yet commercially, but it still nailed down five well-deserved nominations, including a major nod for Song of the Year for the ultra-sexy “Adorn.” 

Snub: Carly Rae Jepsen
Sure, “Call Me Maybe” was nominated for some big prizes, including Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, but why was it left off the list for Record of the Year? And why didn’t Jepsen get a nod for Best New Artist? Grammy voters seemed to be implying that while they would honor her huge sales year, they may not be expecting her to stick around. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 6 2012 10:35 AM ET

Rod Stewart, John Travolta, Cee Lo Green, and the best (and best-worst) of the season's new Christmas music

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ROD-STEWART

Image Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

For some of you, the focus on Christmas shifted roughly 20 minutes after swallowing the last bite of Thanksgiving pie and you set out to find the best spot for your Black Friday tent.

One of the great joys (or, depending on who you are, nightmares) of the holiday commerce season is the never-ending stream of Christmas music filling in all the empty airspace in your local shopping malls and department stores. But what if you’re shopping online, and somehow avoiding every other vestige of public-space holiday-music inundation?

To help you, here’s a rundown of some of the new stuff added to the yearly snowpile of Yuletide releases (and at the end of this post, a Spotify playlist to let you try out the wares like so many Costco samples.)

Rod Stewart, Merry Christmas, Baby
The undisputed champ of this season’s holiday music bonanza is Stewart, whose first holiday album is currently doing big business (it narrowly missed preventing Alicia Keys from being the top album in the country this week). His approach is very much “Over-Eggnogged Uncle Croons Hugs ‘Round the Tree,” but it’s still Rod-ily charming, and his original composition “Red Suited Super Man” will be an alternate-universe hit next Yuletide season.

Cee Lo Green, Cee Lo’s Magic Moment
The music world was half-expecting a new album from Green’s old hip-hop group Goodie Mob this holiday season, but instead we got The Voice favorite’s blast of red-velvet funk (and that’s red velvet like Santa’s suit, not the sexy cake kind). Its Motown bounce recalls all the great Stevie Wonder Christmas tracks of yesteryear, and the inclusion of the Muppets (on “All I Need Is Love”) is never not awesome. READ FULL STORY »

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